Untitled Chapter 2

She got out of the shower and stared blankly at the cupboard wondering what to wear. Since it was a day in for her, with a possibility of maybe a walk in the park she put on a pair of black track pants and a plain purple colour T shirt. As she slipped on the T shirt, she paused for a moment and ran a finger over a stretch mark at the side of her lower waist. She felt conscious and wondered if Aaron noticed these things while making love to her and if it ever bothered him that his girlfriend was not a perfect plastic doll.Despite living with him for over a year now, she still wondered sometimes why they were together. Her insecurities and meaningless observations mostly came as a result of never having felt what it was like to be in a real relationship before this.

Her T shirt hugged her body slightly still leaving enough room for her to breathe. She let her hair open touching her neckline and pinned her flicks behind knowing she would be doing a lot of work today and could not afford to get distracted just to make her hair.

Amy sat down to work on her story. Her novel was progressing at a fair pace, she had the plot figured in her mind, but like every other time she got stuck just when she reached the middle of the story. This was her first attempt at writing a novel, even though she had written numerous short stories before, most of which got published as a part of collections or in magazines and journals. Her agent encouraged her to try something new because she believed Amy had what it takes to write a good novel. She knew what she always wanted to do but just did not know how.

During her intern days at Harper Collins about two years ago when she was still trying to figure out the publishing world she remembered how her belief in the fact that one instance can change your life grew even stronger. Amy remembered noticing her Asian co-worker who always seemed to be extra occupied with his work. Yet he was the first one to actually come up to her and start a conversation.

“So how do you like it so far?” he asked as he came over to her workstation.
“I don’t know, I mean I like it, I always wanted to work with a publishing house thought this would be the best way to start” she replied
“How old are you? 19 – 20? Still in uni I guess figuring out what to do?”
“Actually 24”
“What a complete jerk,” she thought to herself, “judging me without having the slightest idea about my life.”

She tried to snub him as often as possible ignoring him during meetings and often missing to mark him on important official emails. During the last week of her internship he asked if he could eat lunch with her. She hesitated at first but thought this was the last time she was seeing him anyway so she agreed. To her surprise it was a pleasant meeting and she was glad she agreed to see him. His name was Arnav Sheth. His parents moved to the UK when he was about 5 years old and he barely had any recollection of his life before that only knowing he grew up in some remote part in Bombay.

“Arnav, that’s such a nice name but how come your email carries a different one?”
“That’s because I prefer people calling me Aaron which is much easier on their tongues rather than getting my real name butchered. Ever since I started coming home crying after school after some bully making fun of my name and colour, my parents decided it was best to have an English name everyone could call me by” he replied as he took a bite of his sandwich.
“That explains the S.Aaron, I thought you were probably Spanish or Mexican or something” she teased him